I can tell you that it was not the nationally ranked Economics department or the Top 5 ranked Criminology or Health and Human Performance departments; nor was it the Smith Business School or the Clark Engineering Program. Academics would love to take credit for the success UMCP has been experiencing for the last 15 years but the truth is they cannot.
Like most schools who enjoy success in football and basketball, two of the most profitable sports in collegiate athletics, UMCP took advantage of both their football and basketball teams success, at the same time, and went straight to the bank! In 2001, the home of the Terrapins won the ACC Championship and in 2002, won the NCAA Final Four National Basketball Tournament. According to the Baltimore Sun and following the basketball team's 2001 Final Four appearance, early applications for the 2002 Freshman class were up 25% which included a 30% increase in out-of-state applicants. From 2003-2004, UMCP experienced the greatest increase in tuition, 20%.
Studies have shown that a mere appearance in the annual NCAA tournament can significantly increase applications resulting in a smarter student body; the university may not increase student enrollment but they can be much more choosy in the type of students they admit. According to ESPN, "a 2009 study by brothers and economics professors Jaren and Devin Pope showed that just making it into the men’s NCAA tournament produces a 1 percent increase in applications the following year. Each round a team advances increases the percentage: 3 percent for Sweet 16 teams, 4 to 5 percent for Final Four teams and 7 to 8 percent for the winner."
This is an impressive formula: take an increase in applications, especially out of state and multiply it by your tuition, which has been increased and is, on average, double for out-of-state applicants. Typically, to get significantly increased enrollments, schools have to increase financial aid and/or decrease tuition but go to the Final Four and you don't have to do either which results in a boatload of new money.
Let's change course for a minute. The roster for the 2002 UMCP National Championship team had 12 players, 10 of them Black:
- Byron Mouton, Rayne, Louisiana
- Juan Dixon, Baltimore, Maryland
- Earl Badu, Baltimore, Maryland
- Calvin McCall, Orlando, Florida
- Andre Collins, Crisfield, Maryland
- Drew Nicholas, Hempstead, New York
- Ryan Randle, Duncanville, Texas
- Lonny Baxter, Silver Spring, Maryland
- Tahj Holden, Red Bank, New Jersey
- Chris Wilcox, Whiteville, North Carolina
What if Byron Mouton went to Southern University or Grambling? What if Juan, Earl, Andre, and Lonny all went to Bowie State? What about Chris Wilcox to North Carolina Central or North Carolina A&T?
The Fab Five of the University of Michigan (Jalen Rose, Chris Webber, Juan Howard, Jimmy King, and Ray Jackson) took merchandise sales from $1.5 million a year to $10 million a year and has remained in the Top 5 annually. The Fab Five played over 20 years ago!!! What if they had played at an HBCU?
The Fab Five of the University of Michigan (Jalen Rose, Chris Webber, Juan Howard, Jimmy King, and Ray Jackson) took merchandise sales from $1.5 million a year to $10 million a year and has remained in the Top 5 annually. The Fab Five played over 20 years ago!!! What if they had played at an HBCU?
Victor Oladipo, Tywon Lawson, Roger Mason, Jeff Green, Rudy Gay, Roy Hibbert, Dante Cunningham, Keith Bogans, Sam Young, and Kevin Durant all have two things in common: they are all or were in the NBA and they are all from the DC, Maryland, Virginia (DMV) area. What if they all ended up playing collegiate basketball at an HBCU? Approximately 78% of the NBA is made up of Black players and what if they all went to HBCUs before they were drafted into the league?
Imagine this type of talent attending Howard or Southern or Morehouse and taking these schools to the NCAA tournament. Tywon Lawson and Kevin Durant on the same team could take on any team in the country including the likes of Duke, UNC, UCLA and Kentucky. Regardless if they would win or not, ESPN would want to televise games with Lawson and Durant because of their amazing talent and their ability to make any team competitive at the highest levels. Now, an HBCU can enjoy the spoils of TV revenue, extra ticket sales (because every game would be sold out), tournament revenue, merchandise sales and the possibility of increased applications.
Michael Beasley, a first-round NBA draft pick as well as a Prince George's County, Maryland native, attended Kansas State University for one year. In that one year he broke over 15 Kansas State and NCAA Division 1 records while putting Kansas State on national landscape. Kansas State went to the 2008 NCAA tournament and enjoyed an immediate increase in applications for the Fall 2010 while increasing its tuition almost 15%, one of the highest increases in its institutional history. Again, Michael was only there for a year but Kansas State University is still enjoying the fruits of his labor years later.
Some would say HBCUs do not have the resources or facilities to attract talent equivalent to Kevin Durant or Lebron James. In that same argument, a point can be made that no university had the right resources or facilities to attract top tier talent until top tier talent arrived. They all had to start somewhere.
Why not start at your local Historically Black University?
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